Auto News 5

From press release

Riley Motorsport has formally confirmed its full-season return to the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, as a privateer effort following the withdrawal of Chrysler's SRT Viper program at the end of 2014.

The team will run one full-season Dodge Viper GT3-R along with a second Viper for the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup in the GT Daytona class.

Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating will continue for a second full season together in GT Daytona in the No. 33. The pairing won twice in 2014.

Canadian Kuno Wittmer, Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goossens all join the team for the Roar and the Rolex 24. The remainder of their seasons are still to be determined.

Additional drivers being brought in include Al Carter, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Cameron Lawrence, the latter of whom is the two-time defending Trans-Am TA2 champion.

Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (MINI) extended his lead in the Dakar Rally after taking his third stage victory Friday in six days of competition.

However, Al-Attiyah was followed closely by his main rival so far, Giniel de Villiers, who finished just 37 seconds behind the rally leader on the 277-km special.

Al-Attiyah now leads the 2015 Dakar by 11m12 from de Villiers' Toyota and by over 28 minutes from Yazeed Al-Rajhi, who lost over eight minutes on Friday.

Peugeot had another disastrous day and, despite a promising start to the special, Stephane Peterhansel stopped with mechanical problems 89km in. He managed to reach the end of the stage but lost over half an hour.

Overall standings (after day 6):

1 Nasser Al-Attiyah, MINI, 19h30m44
2 Giniel de Villiers, Toyota, +11m12
3 Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Toyota, +28m44
4 Krzysztof Holowczyc, MINI, +1h00m53
5 Bernhard Ten Brinke, Toyota, +1h04m23

Veteran Formula 1 driver, German Adrian Sutil is likely to compete in endurance racing this season in an attempt to return in Formula 1 in 2016.

Sutil is apparently ready to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship this season before trying to return to Grand Prix racing with the new Haas F1 Team the following year.

Some motorsport web sites insist that Haas F1 Team director, Gunther Steiner, is a fan of Sutil, especially because of his huge experience of the Ferrari engines.

Rumour has it that Sutil recently travelled to Stuttgart, Germany to pay visit to the Porsche Motorsport directors.

Sutil may join his fellow countryman Nico Hulkenberg in the third Porsche 919 Hybrid at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the 24 Hours of Le Mans this spring.

Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team has spent several millions of dollars for making the acquisition of several dynamic test benches.

According to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, Ferrari has purchased and will install four dynamic test benches provided by Austrian company AVL for a total cost of $40 millions.

A dynamic test bench allows testing of the complete car as if it was running on a race track, but in a closed environment.

It is generally destined to validate hardware and software running of the V6 turbo hybrid power unit in conditions close to reality, including heat and vibrations.

Last year, Red Bull Racing tested his troublesome RB10-Renault at AVL's facility in Graz.

An Audi road car running on an AVL test bench. (Photo: AVL)

From press release

The number 2 Black Falcon Mercedes SLS of Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt, Yelmer Buurman and Oliver Webb defied the odds to claim a famous victory in the tenth edition of the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai.

Pole position winning Fach Auto Tech Porsche team took an early, but they were stalked by the Black Falcon team who remained at the sharp end of proceedings throughout the race. They began to stamp their authority on the race by claiming the lead on lap 22 and thereafter spent long stints at the front.

Black Falcon Mercedes crosses the line to win the 2015 Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai. (Photo: Dubai Autodrome)

By lap 276 they were in command and remained in the lead until lap 604 when the chequered flag waved to end the race at Dubai Autodrome.

The Ram Racing Mercedes SLS finished in second place ahead of the  UAE based Dragon Racing Ferrari 458 Italia.

It was also big celebrations in the Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing pit garage as Phil Quaife and the Moutran brothers Nabil, Ramzi and Sami claimed victory in the A3T Class in their SEAT, after a dominant performance throughout the 24 hours.

On the other side of the coin it disappointment for the Abu Dhabi Racing Black Falcon Mercedes of Jeroen Bleekemolen, Bernd Schneider, Andreas Simonsen and local hero Khalid Al Qubaisi who took over the car for the third stint. He kept up the momentum in second place but bad luck struck on lap 88 when a slower car collided with the Mercedes.

In the pits the Black Falcon crew did everything possible to repair the Mercedes AMG SLS GT3, but the damage to the rear suspension and the chassis was too severe, thus the team decided to retire car number 3.

2015 Hankook 24H Dubai Top 5 results:

1 Black Falcon 2 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3
2 Ram Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3
3 Dragon Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
4 KPM Racing 1 Aston Martin Vantage GT3
5 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Nissan GTR GT3

A planned three-month shutdown of Fiat Chrysler Automobile's Windsor, Ontario, assembly plant starting in mid-February could leave dealers scrambling to find minivans.

Additional federal scrutiny of company processes is emerging as a key part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's arsenal for reining in automakers that violate federal auto safety laws.

General Motors plans to make GM Financial its preferred lender for subsidized leases, a big step toward elevating its in-house lending arm into a full-line captive finance provider to enhance GM dealers' ability to sell vehicles.

Demands for compensation from Chinese car dealers hit by a market slowdown have become an industry-wide issue, BMW's board member for sales said today, adding relations were not simply about "holding hands and walking into the sunset."

Never underestimate the value of an email. And an educated guess. At least if you're Amanda Morvan, general manager of O'Regan's Kia Dartmouth in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Chevrolet will bring new energy and plenty of stories to next week's Detroit auto show with video on massive screens, flashy lighting and upbeat music.

News 12 Jan, 2015

The Alfa Romeo 4C sports car gains an open-topped Spider version at the 2015 Detroit Motor Show

China's Guangzhou Automobile Group will show an autonomous hybrid concept and an SUV at the Detroit auto show Monday afternoon. The autonomous concept, called the Witstar, is powered by a battery and a gasoline engine.

Having refused to rule in or rule out production of a Galaxy replacement only weeks ago, Ford of Europe has today stated that "an all new Galaxy seven passenger vehicle will go on sale in mid-2015".

The newly redesigned GMC Canyon already has a new special edition. The Canyon Nightfall will be offered on both two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive SLE crew cab models and will come in Onyx Blac

News 11 Jan, 2015

Japanese premium brand Infiniti has released more pictures of its stylish Q60 Concept

Dodge will begin offering 'one-of-one' customized Vipers next month to customers, complete with a personalized name tag embossed into the instrument panel.

News 11 Jan, 2015

The Jaguar F-Pace SUV is coming in 2016 to rival BMW's X3 and Audi's Q5, Jag reveals at Detroit Motor Show 2015

Shanghai may ban sexy models from posing at its auto show this year so that visitors to the biennial event can focus on the vehicles on display.

NXP Semiconductors has unveiled a follow-on investment in Cohda Wireless, a software specialist for automotive safety applications.